Evolution of white women in society Essay Example for Free

Evolution of white women in society Essay During the colonial chronology of the United States, many a historian pictured women as better situated than their more recent contemporaries (Mary Beth Norton, 1984). The value of women in the colonies was premised on the survival mode of the colonists during that time (Norton, 1984). To survive, both male and female were expected to pull their own weight in the community for the common good of the community (Norton, 1984). Due to this situation, the common lines of separation on the roles of women from the men were blurred greatly (Norton, 1984). As such, women in the colonies could engage in the activities that were also done by the men folk in the community (Norton, 1984). But what gave women a distinct advantage was that they could produce offspring, a very large contribution to the survival of the colonies (Norton, 1984). Also, the Common Law as it was applied in England was not fully complied with in the colonies (Norton, 1984). Hence, women were able to contribute more fully in the life of the colonies (Norton, 1984). Today’s society bears little distinction in the role of women in the colonies. At present, women are doing many of the duties and employment that men have usually been pictured. Women can do what the men are doing to be able to cope with the increasing costs of living in the present economy of many countries. Most are successful in many of traditional endeavors of man. Sadly, there are opponents from both sides, one saying that women must be confined to their traditional station, while another seeks greater power for the women. What lies in the crux of the issue is the issue of equality for both sexes. We must treat women as vital instruments to the growth of a society, not only as objects to look and admire at. That aim can be achieved in terms of affording greater avenues for women to make that contribution, not locking them away from them. In this day and age, all hands count in the survival of a community. Reference Norton, M. B. (1984). The evolution of white women’s experience in early America. The American Historical Review, Volume 89, pp. 539-619

Do New Wars Pose Difficult Challenges Politics Essay

Do New Wars Pose Difficult Challenges Politics Essay Civil wars in todays modern world have become increasingly described as new wars ever since the end of the Cold War era due to a perceived change in the format of warfare and the emergence of war economies as central to internal skirmishes. Some scholars argue this evolution in warfare and intrastate conflict requires adjustments and changes to the post conflict reconstruction process due to new challenges new wars creates in comparison to the old wars of the past. This essay argues that there is in fact little evolution in warfare since the end of the Cold War and in fact many of the characteristics of the so-called new wars are in fact present in conflicts in the past. It is for this reason that new wars do not pose more difficult challenges any more than the already complicated problems associated with post conflict reconstruction; although some changes are necessary to adjust the course of development, it is in fact the growth and advancement of media and the communications secto rs that have led to an increased focus on civil wars that has pushed them into the public arena and granted them a new status. The first part of this essay will analyse the new wars thesis posited by Kaldor and outline the characteristics attributed to new wars; this will be followed by the convincing criticisms by many academics that argue new wars are not in fact new and assists the final section of the essay that discusses the post conflict reconstruction process and argues contemporary conflict does not post a more difficult challenge to the post conflict reconstruction process anymore than old wars do. The concept of new wars was first written about in detail by Mary Kaldor at the end of the 1990s, as she attempted to define the characteristics of low-intensity conflicts and distinguish them from traditional state versus state conflicts of the past. Kaldor argues that towards the end of the 20th Century, in particular in the post-Cold War order, a new form of organized violence has emerged, with blurred distinctions between war, organized crime and large-scale human rights violations (2006, pp.1-2). This thesis has gained considerable academic support as scholars notice the trend in the decrease of interstate wars and the increase in violence within states (Holsti, 1996, p.40). New wars are characterised as criminal, depoliticized, private and even predatory in their nature, whilst the old wars of the past were ideological, political and noble (Kalyvas, 2006, p.100). Kaldor thus believes there has been a progression in the nature of warfare and conflict since the Cold War as intern al conflicts become the norm and interstate battles become far less common. Kaldor argues that New wars can be contrasted with earlier wars in terms of their goals, the methods of warfare and how they are financed (2006, p.7); these differences will be outlined in the following section to explain the new features of new wars. The goals of new wars are based on identity politics, especially ethnic identity, rather than ideological differences or geo-political ambitions, and often occur due to the erosion of state autonomy and state failure (Kaldor, 2006, pp.5-7). Groups will claim control of the state or certain areas of the state in the name of ethnicity, religion or tribe (Kaldor, 2005, p.212). The Bosnian conflict during the 1990s is often depicted as the archetypal example of a new war as it displays this identity conflict clearly (Kaldor, 2006, p.33). Due to its ethnic diversity of Muslims, Serbs and Croats (as well as several other ethnic identities), it was no surprise that conflict arose between the groupings as the Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats set about ethnic cleansing in an attempt to establish ethnically homogenous territories (Kaldor, 2006, pp.34-5). Furthermore, the attrition of state power means the monopoly over violence is severely limited, which leads to widespread skirmishes and conf licts as groups compete to fill the vacuum created through state collapse (Newman, 2004, p.175). The warring parties in the Bosnian war described themselves as states and made use of the former state apparatus in order to finance, resource and run their campaigns (Kaldor, 2005, p.214). Globalisation has resulted in a cleavage between rich and poor that results in conflict and structural violence (Berdal, 2003, p.479) and also a cleavage between cosmopolitanism and the politics of particularist identities (Kaldor, 2006, p.7). There is a growing them and us divide as identity politics play a more dominant role in how individuals see themselves to each other. This of course increases the inevitability and the probability of conflict among groups of differing identities The form of combat has also changed as guerrilla and counter-insurgency tactics become the norm (Kaldor, 2006, p.8), as the nature of conflict adapts a distinctively politically chaotic and military atrocious character (Snow, 1996, p.105). In the past, guerrilla warfare has aimed to capture hearts and minds of civilians and the population; however, the new warfare uses counterinsurgency methods of destabilisation, aiming to create fear and hatred amongst civilians instead, using this to gain support or at least prevent citizens from disobeying orders (Kalyvas, 2001, p.109). New wars appear to lack military order or discipline (Angstrom, 2005, p.8) which often leads to extreme violence and barbarism, directed in particular at civilians as a deliberate strategy (Mello, 2010, p.299). This strategy of civilian targeting rests in the aim to control populations, inducing destabilization and terror in an attempt to remove those of a different identity through violent and barbaric killings a s well as techniques of intimidation (Kaldor, 2006, p.9). The genocide in Rwanda or the random atrocities committed against civilians in Sarajevo highlight this dark side of new war (Snow, 1996, p.105), and in situations such as Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda and Liberia, the military objective was the systematic murder and terrorizing of civilian populations (Snow, 1996, p.ix). Civilian casualties and forced displacement has increased in proportion to all causalities in conflict since the 1990s, highlighting this deliberative civilian targeting, further assisted by a blurring of boundaries between civilians and combatants as public authority breaks down as part of state failure (Newman, 2004, p.175). The final feature that distinguishes new wars from old wars is the form of financing that occurs; war economies of the past focused on using resources to defeat the enemy (Broodryk, 2010, p.11), whilst the new wars utilise looting, criminal networks, diasporic support and taxation of humanitarian aid to provide resources for their conflict (Kaldor, 2005, p.216). The simplest form of financing the war effort is through looting, robbery, extortion and hostage-taking and is seen in a number of contemporary wars (Kaldor, 2006, p.108). However, some war economies utilise networks of legal and illegal trade, arms and drug trafficking, corrupt governments and supportive diasporas that influence the outbreak and perpetuation of violent conflicts (Mello, 2010, p.300). The new war economies involve the fragmentation of the state as it cannot monopolise production and employment in order to fund their war cause (Broodryk, 2010, p.11). Resources are instead traded outside of the country to private companies lacking any interest in the conflict, only aiming to profit on the internal disruption (Broodryk, 2010, p.11). Kofi Annan highlights the economic struggle as central to internal conflicts: The pursuit of diamonds, drugs, timber, concessions and other valuable commodities drives todays internal wars. In some countries the capacity of the State to extract resources from society and to allocate patronage is the prize to be fought over (Annan, 1999, emphasis in original). This creates a globalized war economy in which rivalry between criminal groups occurs over resources or illegal commercial activities (Newman, 2004, p.176). The process of resource capture thus means there is no real desire of victory as groups aim to maintain resource profitability and the power they capture (Newman, 2004, p.176) the state of war is preferred to peace as it provides a cover for illegal economic activities by warlords and non-state actors (Melander et al., 2009, p.511) However, there are a number of academics that criticise Kaldors new wars thesis, arguing that many of the new features of new wars can be found in earlier wars, and that the differences between old and new wars are not as dichotomous as made out and are often exaggerated (Newman, 2004, p.173; Mello, 2010, p.305). This essay agrees with this to an extent a number of the features of new wars that Kaldor outlines in her argument are also present in wars of the past and suggest there is little new about modern warfare in internal conflict situations, as will be outlined in the following section. In terms of empirical evidence for new wars, Newman accepts that civil war have been more frequent than interstate war, but argues that both forms of conflict have decreased since the mid-1990s, with the exception of a spike in intrastate conflict in the early 1990s (2004, p.180). This, as Newman believes, shows there has not been an evolution of new wars in the post-Cold War period, and infact, the probability of country being in conflict is not similar to that at the end of the 1950s (Newman, 2004, p.180). In addition, Melander et al. argue battle severity (the number of deaths in battle) has declined in the post-Cold War era, whilst violence against civilians in civil conflict has also decreased (2009, p.507). Kalyvas explores the features of the new war convention, contrasting them to those of old wars, and concludes there are probably more similarities than differences, and that the new wars thesis is flawed in a number of ways. Firstly, he takes the argument that ideological concerns were the motivations of old wars, claiming that in fact, many wars in the past have involved high levels of looting (such as the Russian and Chinese Revolutions) and that many combatants actually made decisions to fight based on local considerations (Kalyvas, 2001, pp.106-7). Many soldiers are usually stimulated due to group pressures such as comradeship, respect and network ties such as family or friendship ties (Kalyvas, 2001, p.108). This can be seen in Irish Revolution and Civil War, where often the ideology at the centre of the war was rarely discussed amongst combatants and the conflict was based instead on family factions and old feuds (Hart, 1999, pp.264-266). Moreover, the depiction of new wars as lacking any ideological movement can be challenged; many rebel forces of contemporary civil wars have been stigmatised as missing any ideological motivations for combat, but in fact many hold an in-depth understanding of their own participation from a political perspective, as shown in Sierra Leone (Kalyvas, 2001, p.104). The portrayal of contemporary warfare existing through a move from chivalrous fighting to that of barbarity by militia and warlords is unfounded (Newman, 2004, p.181); the use of gratuitous violence can be found in old civil wars such in America, Russia and Spain, whilst the practice of child abduction to create child soldiers may be associated with contemporary Africa, but was common in conflicts in Afghanistan (during the Soviet invasion), Peru, Guatemala and the China (Kalyvas, 2001, pp.114-5). The horrific violence and barbarism portrayed in Kaldors new war thesis is also visible in past wars; the deliberate targeting of civilians can be seen in the Mexican Revolution at the start of the 20th Century, whilst World War II represents perhaps the most widespread cases of atrocities in the form of the Holocaust, the German advance into the Soviet Union (with huge civilian displacement) and the Russian advance on Berlin (with numerous cases of rape or sexual brutality) (Newman, 2004, pp.182-3). It is for this reason that Madame de Staà «l remarks that all civil wars are more of less similar in their atrocity, in the upheaval in which they throw men and in the influence they give to violent and tyrannical passions (cited in Kalyvas, 2001, pp.114-5). It is also possible to argue that modern intrastate conflicts do not utilise senseless violence, and that actually the portrayal of violence is defined by culture those in the West find the use machete as more barbaric than mass killings through bombings (Kalyvas, 2001, p.115) who is it to say which is the more atrocious and inhumane? Furthermore, Kaldor contends the violence rebel and militia movements use is not as gratuitous as made out, and in fact it is often strategic and selective Kalyvas argues the Algeria massacres, or the tactics used by RENAMO in Mozambique were part of larger strategies, whilst the forced amputation of womens hands in Sierra Leone can be seen as calculated to instil fear (2001, pp.115- 6). This is not to deny the acts as barbaric, but it certainly weakens the depiction of the violence as undisciplined and random. A case study that suggests new wars are not in fact new can be found in the Congo civil war during the 1960s; Newman argues this conflict closely follows the new wars model and identifies with several characteristics of Kaldors thesis (2004, p.184). The conflict arose after Belgium withdrew from Congo in June 1960, resulting in a political crisis as the centralised government broke down and disorder erupted. The Katanga province, rich in minerals, declared independence from the Congolese state after receiving support from the Belgian mining companies who were protecting their interests and promoting secession in the background (Newman, 2004, p.184). Conflict and struggles against the new leadership of the Republic of Congo was motivated primarily by material aggrandizement, particularly amongst militias and private mercenaries; at the same time, ethnic and religious differences stimulated the violence further, with some fighting orientated around clear political agendas (such as the unitary state against Katangan secession), whilst most fighting revolved around the interests of warlords and local factions (Newman, 2004, p.184). State failure and the breakdown of authority led to social disorder and the emergence of a war economy as mercenaries attempted to perpetuate conflict due to the benefits they gained not only from their employers but also from illegal activities such as arms sales (Newman, 2004, p.184). This case study therefore highlights the presence of new war features during the Cold War period, with state failure and collapse leading to social disorder and conflicting identity groups competing for resources. This suggests that new wars are in fact not new but have always been present; it is instead the emergence from the Cold War era that simply brought these conflicts to the fore and the expansion of media and communications that has led to the reporting of the internal disputes around the globe. The essay will now turn to the question of whether new wars pose more difficult challenges to postconflict reconstruction, and whether new approaches to state rebuilding after internal civil war are required. Although the essay has argued throughout that new wars are not completely new, it has also noted that some characteristics of contemporary intrastate conflict have evolved from those of the past, and there have been some changed in the forms of conflict. It is for these reasons that the post conflict reconstruction process must make a few adaptations in order to assist a states recovery after civil war. As Newman outlines, evolution and advancement in historical, technological and social-economic terms have meant the nature of conflict has also changed (2004, p.185), and therefore the reconstruction process will face some new challenges. In many post-conflict nations, the levels of crime and human rights abuses remain high as warlords and militia remain at large, making use of t heir illegal economies created through civil war the are weaknesses in the reconstruction process that mean identity politics and the new wars rebuilding programmes are not tackled head on (Kaldor, 2006, p.x). At a basic level, post conflict reconstruction must address a wide and complex range of challenges in states ravaged by internal conflict the prevention of future armed conflict, the rebuilding of effective state institutions, recreation of a social fabric, redressing of human rights abuses and the nursing of a health civil society are all central to the reconstruction process (Call Cook, 2003, p.135). The prevention of further armed conflict is particularly important in the case of new wars as it is essential to discourage warlords, militia and other forces from restarting and perpetuating conflict in order to sustain the resource capture that is common in contemporary warfare. This therefore means the war economy that existed during the conflict must be replaced by an effective state economy that has a monopoly of the nations resources and can prevent resource competition from accumulating and resulting in a fresh break out of conflict. Furthermore, the prevention of future confl ict is not simply a matter of removing arms access and taking guns from the combatants, but it is also the establishment of accountably, transparent, and participatory systems of authority (Call Cook, 2003, p.135). In the aftermath of a new war, it is essential for restructuring forces to quickly create a form of state authority that is accountable to the people and is capable of solving the grievances of those involved in the conflict. Kaldor stresses the importance for reconstruction to primarily involve the restructuring of political authorities and civil society, in the forms of law and order and the mobilisation of political groups (2006, p.145). The integration of all identities is also essential in order to remove the binary them and us dichotomy than can threaten to reignite ethnic or religious differences and disputes. The establishment of law and order requires disarmament, demobilisation, policing or training police forces, arresting of war criminals and the re-establishment of the justice system (Kaldor, 2006, p.146). However, it is not that simple; disarmament through buy-back programmes results in the handing back of average or poor weaponry whilst the high-tech arms are held onto (Kaldor, 2006, p.146). Furthermore, as new wars are essentially a combination of war and criminality, law enforcement must involve both soldiers and police in order to provide adequate security and authority. Infrastructure s uch as basic services, transport and production needs to be restored at both regional and local levels in order to re-establish the economy and reduce the need to humanitarian aid (Kaldor, 2006, p.147). Humanitarian assistance also needs to become more targeted in order to remove war economies and their siphoning of aid, and also to prevent over-reliance on aid that means the economy cannot be rebuilt. For instance, in Somalia, food provisions were high and numerous in an attempt to ensure all of those in need actually received the aid; however, this meant food prices in the state fell, creating an environment where it was no longer economically viable for farmers to produce food (Kaldor, 2006, p.144). Another example of aid problems can be seen in El Salvador; here, and IMF stabilisation programme attempted to provide monetary assistance for the country to reconstruct. However, the strict spending limits of the IMF provisions meant the state could not afford to build a civil police force and enact buy-back schemes for disarmament that was required by the peace programme to help reintegrate combatants back into society (Kaldor, 2006, p.143). In this instance, therefore, humanitarian assistance in post conflict reconstruction needs to become more targeted and utilise local knowledge for it to be effective at rebuilding after a new war. This essay has only touched on the surface of the reconstruction process after a new war, providing a basic outline of state rebuilding. However, it explains the need to adapt certain procedures uses in reconstruction of the state after a new war the need to retarget and develop aid provision, the importance of establishing effective authoritarian institutions to enforce security and peace, and the importance of reconstructing state structures that enable grievances to be addressed, civil society to be rebuilt, war economies removed, and the implementation of policies to prevent future state failure and conflict. To conclude then, this essay points to the need for perspective when approaching new wars and post conflict reconstruction each struggle will need its own unique form of reconstruction, and therefore the post conflict rebuilding process is a case-by-case thesis, with no singular set of reformation practices or factors and the presence or lack of certain factors associated with new wars is down to the unique contexts and mitigations of specific conflicts rather than linear historical changes (Newman, 2004, p.180). There has indeed been a decrease in state vs. state conflict commonly associated with the past, whilst globalisation, decolonisation and the following state building, and the resurgence of identity politics have all suggested a shift from warfare of the past and therefore the need to adjust reconstruction policies (Newman, 2004, p.180), and indeed some changes are required. However, it is perhaps more appropriate to highlight the rise and expansion of the media and communic ations as an explanation for the perceived changes in conflict many of the factors Kaldor outlines in her thesis are not in fact new and have been present in past skirmishes it is simply the prominence and attention these conflicts now receive from the media that has resulted in changes of perceptions and ideas of civil wars (Newman, 2004, p.179). The first section of this essay outlined the basis of Kaldors New Wars argument and the factors attributed to contemporary civil war; following this, the essay provided and agreed with the criticisms of the new wars thesis, highlighting the fact than many of the characteristics of new wars are not as new as Kaldor makes out. Finally, the essay contended that contemporary wars do not provide many more difficult challenges for post conflict reconstruction in comparison to old wars, rather small adjustments must be made in order to account for the rise of globalisation and the modern world.

The Scarlet Letter :: essays research papers

The Scarlet Letter According to the New England Primer, a basic textbook used during Puritan times, in Adam’s fall, â€Å"we sinned all†. This quote very much applies to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s characters in The Scarlet Letter. The main characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, and the Puritan society represented by the townspeople, all sinned. This story is a study of the effects of sin on the hearts and minds of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. Sin strengthens Hester, humanizes Dimmesdale, and turns Chillingworth into a demon. Hester Prynne's sin was adultery. This sin was regarded very seriously by the Puritans, and was often punished by death. Hester’s punishment was to endure a public shaming on a scaffold for three hours and wear a scarlet letter â€Å"A† on her chest for the rest of her life in the town. Although Hawthorne does not pardon Hester’s sin, he takes it less serious than those of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Hester’s sin was a sin of passion. This sin was openly acknowledged as she wore the â€Å"A† on her chest. She did not deliberately mean to commit her sin or mean to hurt others. Hester’s sin is that her passions and love were of more importance to her than the Puritan moral code. This is shown when she says to Dimmesdale, â€Å"What we did had a consecration of its own. We felt it so! We said so to each other!†(Hawthorn pg. 48) Hester fully acknowledged her guilt and displayed it with pride to the world. This was obvious by the way she displayed the scarlet letter. It was elaborately designed as if to show Hester was proud. Hester is indeed a sinner, adultery is no light matter, even today. On the other hand, her sin has brought her not evil, but good. Her charity to the poor, her comfort to the broken-hearted, he unquestionable presence in times of trouble are all direct results of her quest for repentance. Her salvation also lies in the truth. She tells Dimmesdale of Chillingworth’s real identity, keeping it a secret before, to aid in her salvation. Her pursuit in telling the truth is evident in the lines, In all things else, I have striven to be true! Truth was the one virtue which I might have held fast, and did hold fast, through all extremity save when thy good--the life--they fame--were put in question! But a lie is never good, even though death threaten the other side! Even though Hester’s sin is the one the book is titled after and centered around, it is not nearly the worst sin committed.

J.B.Priestley’s play, An Inspector Calls :: English Literature:

An Inspector Calls’ is a play about ideas, it contains thought provoking material the aim of which is social reform. But the Whole Thing’s Different Now ----------------------------------- ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a play about ideas, it contains thought provoking material the aim of which is social reform. At the start of the play this rich, middle class family think themselves â€Å"a nice, well behaved family†, â€Å"respectable citizens† but some of their views are changed by a mysterious inspector who uncovers some disturbing truths about their lives. The inspector shows how each member of the household has contributed to the suicide of a young working class girl. This play highlights the problems and flaws in attitudes just after the turn of the century and that people can be wrong about many things including the future, themselves and their beliefs and prejudices. By doing so this play promotes the utopian ideals of liberty and equality and follows in the footsteps of the French and Russian revolutions. Set in between these two events it reminds us that people will always strive for a better quality of life and that history will repeat itself until we live in a perfect society. This play has a timeless quality about it and the problems of society that it raises are still present in today’s society. It seems we as nation, or as a species for that matter, have still not learnt from our mistakes. We continue to ignore mistakes, fail to concede we are wrong and pretend it is not our fault or responsibility. We are a too alike to Mrs Birling and can not accept change easily. It is still the younger generation who lead the drive for social reform and changes in attitude, eco-warriors for example. This is a very socialist play but is not directly insulting of the richer classes, just critical of their ignorance. The play was first performed in Stalin’s Communist Russia by the Kamery and Leningrad theatre companies in Moscow, August 1945. World War Two had just been ended by the atom bomb and throughout allied Europe soldiers began to come back home to a hero’s welcome for the second time in half a century. They had saved the world and did not want to return to a life of virtual slave labour. Workers and unions were demanding more rights and the years of war had weakened the class system. A change was required. Though not as violent as the Bolshevik revolution people were fighting old ideas and embracing new ones. They did not want another war. National patriotism had brought communities closer together. The Blitz and rationing had put everybody in the same boat and people looked out J.B.Priestley’s play, An Inspector Calls :: English Literature: An Inspector Calls’ is a play about ideas, it contains thought provoking material the aim of which is social reform. But the Whole Thing’s Different Now ----------------------------------- ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a play about ideas, it contains thought provoking material the aim of which is social reform. At the start of the play this rich, middle class family think themselves â€Å"a nice, well behaved family†, â€Å"respectable citizens† but some of their views are changed by a mysterious inspector who uncovers some disturbing truths about their lives. The inspector shows how each member of the household has contributed to the suicide of a young working class girl. This play highlights the problems and flaws in attitudes just after the turn of the century and that people can be wrong about many things including the future, themselves and their beliefs and prejudices. By doing so this play promotes the utopian ideals of liberty and equality and follows in the footsteps of the French and Russian revolutions. Set in between these two events it reminds us that people will always strive for a better quality of life and that history will repeat itself until we live in a perfect society. This play has a timeless quality about it and the problems of society that it raises are still present in today’s society. It seems we as nation, or as a species for that matter, have still not learnt from our mistakes. We continue to ignore mistakes, fail to concede we are wrong and pretend it is not our fault or responsibility. We are a too alike to Mrs Birling and can not accept change easily. It is still the younger generation who lead the drive for social reform and changes in attitude, eco-warriors for example. This is a very socialist play but is not directly insulting of the richer classes, just critical of their ignorance. The play was first performed in Stalin’s Communist Russia by the Kamery and Leningrad theatre companies in Moscow, August 1945. World War Two had just been ended by the atom bomb and throughout allied Europe soldiers began to come back home to a hero’s welcome for the second time in half a century. They had saved the world and did not want to return to a life of virtual slave labour. Workers and unions were demanding more rights and the years of war had weakened the class system. A change was required. Though not as violent as the Bolshevik revolution people were fighting old ideas and embracing new ones. They did not want another war. National patriotism had brought communities closer together. The Blitz and rationing had put everybody in the same boat and people looked out

Dawsons Creek Value :: essays research papers

A seminal one-hour drama series, â€Å"Dawson’s Creek† chronicles with wry humor the undeniably intense period of awakening known as the teenage years. A startlingly fresh and realistic approach to adolescence, bringing an edgy, keen perception to the turmoil of that time in life, â€Å"Dawson’s Creek† in its first two seasons ranked as one of the highest-rated shows among female teen viewers. Set in a picture-postcard Boston suburb, just off of the Atlantic Ocean, this coming-of-age series explores the blooming self-awareness and growing pains that go hand-in-hand with the triumphs of growing up. Wisely intelligent and yet naively open, four teens are at the heart of this drama as they unknowingly embark on the road less traveled, going against the norm in the paths they choose. Together in this passage from adolescence to young adulthood, the series stars James Van Der Beek (â€Å"Varsity Blues†), Katie Holmes (â€Å"GO!,† â€Å"Disturbing Behavior,† â€Å"Teaching Mrs. Tingle†), Joshua Jackson (â€Å"The Skulls,† â€Å"Urban Legend†) and Michelle Williams (â€Å"Dick,† â€Å"Halloween: H20†). John Wesley Shipp (â€Å"Sisters†), Mary-Margaret Humes (â€Å"History of the World, Part I†), Nina Repeta (â€Å"Radioland Murders†), Mary Beth Peil (â€Å"The King and I† on Broadway), Meredith Monroe (â€Å"Dangerous Minds† the series) and Kerr Smith (â€Å"Flight 180†) also star. Oblivious to how well he is growing into his good looks, Dawson Leery (Van Der Beek) is a teenaged Steven Spielberg fanatic who is charmingly obsessive and passionate about his love of movies. As he returns to Capeside for his junior year of high school after spending the entire summer in Philadelphia with his mom (Humes), Dawson must face the rift with his longtime best friend. Joey Potter (Holmes), the tomboy and emerging beauty who lives down the creek with her sister Bessie (Repeta), is still reeling from her break-up with Dawson and what she perceives as his ultimate betrayal in turning in her father for dealing drugs. While Dawson tries to embrace a newfound devil-may-care lease on life, the ever-sarcastic Pacey Witter (Jackson) has been grounded somewhat by his tumultuous relationship last year with Rhode Island transplant Andie McPhee (Monroe). Next door to Dawson, Jen Lindley (Williams) has moved back home with her Grams (Peil), along with Andie’s brother Jack (Smith). On the home front, Dawson’s dad (Shipp) starts a new position as Capeside High School’s new varsity football coach. Together, these friends learn that growing up is never as easy as it seems in the movies. Blindly testing the waters towards young adulthood, the astute teens shed their childlike innocence and endure the compromise of morality that accompanies so-called maturity.

Fashion History Essay

A fancy handbag, stylish footwear, shimmering jewellery and a designer dress of substandard quality sell at fantastic prices. Now beauty salons and slimming centers the landmarks of fashionable world are frequented by a large clientele at great expenses even in smaller towns. It seems the inbred urge of the man to appear graceful is awakening from the slumber. But the craze for fashion has also opened new avenues for expansion of small scale industries product fancy articles for beauty aids are now growing and shaping up as big industries. They provide employment to thousands of youth directly or indirectly. Courses based on fashion designing and decoration have now become a popular and recognized commercial education in the country. Ever changing fashion is welcome features but living in fashion and style is a symbol of lively society. Fashions breaking the barriers of decency and decoration are full risks and lead to moral chaos. We must be aware of that fashion adds only to our external beauty which is skin deep and transient whereas moral beauty is lasting and sublime. True beauty lies in cleaning ourselves from within and is attained by practicing truth and piety love and sacrifice in our lives but in the avalanche of ever changing fashions, all that matters is ostentatious show with the aid of modem cosmetics and beauty aids, latest dresses etc. And this is eating into our great noble values. True, beauty needs no ornaments or fashion aids. My lord I may be beautiful from within in this age of fashion.

Diesel Business Plan

[BUSINESS PLAN ASSIGNMENT]| | Creating your own brand jeans We are going to introduce a business where we with the help of recognized jeans brands all over the world will give ordinary people a chance of creating their own pair of jeans, but still maintaining the quality and the status that the specific brand maintain for their customers. We will basically be a jeans selling store but with a niche that we introduce our customers to â€Å"custom made† jeans instead of the regular ones. We will use the existing bran with its cut, bootleg and design but we will give our customers the opportunity to choose some of the details themselves. For people who for example want to have a wear on jeans which don’t have any wear from the original reseller we offer the possibility that at an expert level giving a pair of jeans the wear that the customer wants. Also we will be able to give the jeans another wash if the customer is interested in a light tone of the fabric but there isn’t any available from the Label/Brand/maker. If someone wants to have any other color or size on the main buttons we are able to provide that, if one wants any other kind of back pockets we are also able to provide that. Someone might want some additional motives or fabrics on their jeans. We will always try to be as flexible as possible and serve our clients in any way that we best can. Why work with Diesel We have chosen to work with the brand Diesel, because of many factors. We will work with an established brand that has a solid customer base here in Sweden. Regarding to the survey done by ISI Wissing, Diesel is the number 3 popular jeans brand in Sweden, also it qualifies for the 3rd place when it comes to customer satisfaction. When it comes to using the brand, regarding this survey, it ends on 4th place. And that for us shows that there are opportunities to take this even further. Also there is a mentality among younger people that they are attractive to the Diesel brand. One of the reasons why, are their outstanding and peculiar commercials. They try to show the brand as very attractive and cool and also with all their different products they want to make a valid point that Diesel is something else then all the other brands. It’s more attractive and aggressive and it’s there for the people who know what they want. One of their later commercial campaign are the â€Å"Be Stupid† commercial where they address their clothes and products to specific people that want to be something else. An example of their commercial is the following quotes: â€Å"Smart may have the brains, but stupid has the balls. †, â€Å"Stupid might fail. Smart doesn’t even try. †, â€Å"Smart may have the answers, but stupid has all the interesting questions†, â€Å"Smart has the plans, stupid has the stories†. So these are examples that they really try to have their own approach and make something amusing and attractive to their customer base. And we think this is one of the things that make Diesel stand out and be an attractive and popular brand to work with. (Willebrand, P, 2007), (Habitat. se, 2009) This type of product we offer is focused on a relatively young, between 18 and 35 years as a textile style, young, dynamic, unique and with character. Our target is to focus sales in a single product with its own identity, a trend and a reference in the textile market, developing products for a demanding consumer sector, where each product can be distinguished from the rest. This product is so expensive, it’s focused on one type of consumer with a high economic level, but that is why our service is striking, since it is an affordable way to get what the customer as to the characteristics mentioned, looking at the market. We don’t think that the segment with low paying jobs will be that particular interested in our business because we think it will be too much money for them to spend on clothes. So our business is rather directed to people who are at the average salary and more. Preferably we find this customer base in larger urban cities where there are enough to offer for people being interested in specific branding clothes. What we can see a connection to might be an independent employee or an entrepreneur that already are going their own path and following their own lifestyle, not bounded to any specific rules or dress code at their jobs. We also think that people with a specific identity can benefit from this of business venture, if you work at some place where you have a dress code that is suits or jackets for example, you are not able to wear your average blue jeans, but you still might be a jeans guy. We then offer the possibility to change the color on your jeans to make them look as much as suit pants as possible and so they not stand out and look really different and inappropriate from what expected. An attractive base product Our service is not unique since there are companies like Indicustom and Somconceptshop that gives the costumer the chance to customize their own jeans. But our service offers the customer a new feature in the market of customizing jeans. We want to use an â€Å"attractive† base product and let the customer personalize it. We looked at the other companies that were operating in the same market as us. We understood that we needed to concentrate on points of difference the benefits that set our product apart from the competition. Such points of differentiation are, in many cases, what consumers remember about a product. No one of the existing companies that we studied used brand/labeled jeans as the product that you could personalize. So we thought that if we use a well-known brand like Diesel as a base product that the customers could customize the way they personally want them to look but still have the quality that Diesel provides. It would unquestioningly set our product apart from the competition. About Diesel Diesel is an international brand, present on the clothing industry market in over 80 countries with 5500 points of sale, throughout all 5 continents. In terms of projected-in the population interested in buying clothes and brand accessories is more and more important that’s why the companies of the clothing industry have to offer varied products to boost their sells and their fame. The brand sells almost 3000 products from the basic pair of jeans, to the bags, belts and the house furniture. Diesel also owns 200 companies and having partnership with 100 local distributors, such as L’Oreal, Ford or Adidas. The main goal is to be everywhere geographically, in different strategic areas, expanding, in that way, their international presence. Concerning the sales and profits, the company realized a revenue of 1,2 billionsâ‚ ¬ en 2008, 80 millions in France. But even with these good results the revenue global of the group doesn’t really know a huge growth and on the contrary decrease of 3. 5% in 2009, whereas there was a rise of 3% in 2008. Then, even if the company has a healthy financial position as its campaigns, its results and its growth shows there is no extra revenue since 5 years. That’s why we decided to create this personalize service. (Pavarini, M, 2010) Tailored e-commerce in Sweden Tailored e-commerce is on the rise if you ask the CEO of Tailor store. He expects an annual growth of 30 percent because the distance trade is on the rise and growing faster than the regular store trade. Tailor Store had a sales report of 40 million last year and reported a profit of 5 million after net financial items. He thinks the reason of the success is because consumers have benefited greatly by including the ability to investigate and compare the products of a larger range of products and services that can be purchased at any time and from anywhere and a greater opportunity to get more customized products to satisfy personal needs. And e-commerce is getting popular in the whole of Sweden; 28 billion in turnover was from distance trade, e-commerce and mail order, in 2010. If you look at the numbers you can see that it has been a doubling in sales in the last five years and today it represents 4. percent of the total retail sales. (Melkersson, E, 2011) Competitors When we look at the biggest competitors it’s hard to say who will be the biggest competitor for our business. Obviously every brand will be a competitor since we will only work with Diesel, also other stores who sell Jeans will also be a competitor to us and in Sweden especially Brothers & Sisters, JC and H&M are big competitor s. Also companies who sell other brand that are big will be a competitor for us, such as resellers for Lee who is number one in Sweden and Levis which is number two. But if we focus specifically on our distinction from the other resellers, the custom made part, we think that companies like Tailor Store will be a big competitor for us. A company that already made themselves a name on the market of custom made clothes, even though they are not only limited to specific brands. If we look in to the sector with custom made clothes a lot of them are not resellers and dealing with bigger worldwide brands. It’s often some smaller brand which they import and give people the opportunity to make changes to. Here is where we have a problem identifying any specific company that are selling luxury brand jeans, designer jeans, with the opportunity for the customer to have the jeans custom made after their wishes. If we look at the jeans market here in Sweden it has suffered from a little fallback. About 15 million pair of jeans is sold in Sweden every year. And the competition from companies like H&M, Kappahl and Lindex are getting bigger at the cost of specialized jeans resellers revenue. (Willebrand, P, 2007), (Habitat. se, 2009) External Factors Affecting A Business There are a couple of external factors we are looking into when it comes to how they can affect our business: 1. GENERAL ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRY CONDITIONS Any general economic, business or industry conditions that cause customers or potential customers to reduce or delay their investments in the jeans industry could have a negative effect on the company's strength and profitability. Currently, the world economic conditions had a bad and considerable impact on every commercial fields of the society, and the jean’s industry couldn’t escape from that either. Trying to launch this custom made project can be profitable for us, of course, but with that we will also try to help in a way the Diesel company. 2. COMPETITION The jeans industry is highly competitive. The intense competition inherent in the industry could result in the loss of customers or pricing pressures. 3. LOCAL ACTIVITIES The company's future growth rates and success are in-part dependent on continued growth and success in local market at first, as we’ll try to open the custom made project worldwide after studying the results in Sweden. (Essays. cc, u. d. ). The Swedish economy emerged from the financial crisis as one of the strongest in Europe. A high-tech local economy and a comprehensive system of welfare benefits allow Sweden to enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world. Sweden has one of the most globalized and competitive economies today. GDP is expected to increase by 4% in 2010 and by 3. 7% in 2011. The welfare has been able to be maintained because of the high tax levels, even if they recently have begun to decrease. Also, concerning government regulations, Sweden’s economic freedom score is 71. ; it appears that the overall regulatory and legal environment, transparent and efficient, encourages robust entrepreneurial activity. (Traveldocs. com, u. d. ). 4. SOCIAL FACTORS The profit margins realized by the company vary somewhat among its products and its customer business units. Like we said before this custom made opportunity that we are going to submit to Diesel is a product to a narrow customers base (1 8-35 years), and they maybe don’t have the possibility to pay this kind of services. That’s why we are trying to make an arrangement with a company like Diesel who stay affordable. . TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES AND PRODUCT TRANSITIONS The jeans industry is characterized by continuing improvements in fashion and design which result in frequent introduction of new products, short product life cycles and continual improvement in product price/design characteristics. 6. INVENTORY MANAGEMENT/SUPPLIES The company's ability to manage its inventory has been enhanced by favorable supply conditions in the industry. The company's manufacturing process requires a high volume of quality components that are procured from third party suppliers. The six external factors highlighted in this paper are identified as primary factors in this industry (Essays. cc, u. d. ) Enterprise resource planning and organization First of all we have to have our wholesale to buy the jeans from, we obviously by our jeans from a supplier since it’s a specific brand that we will be using. We need a workstation where we do our tweaks on the jeans, since we will do the tailoring in-house and not outsourced. Meaning we will have a department changing buttons, sawing on new pockets on the back of the jeans, wearing them and washing them. We will buy the raw jeans models from Diesel and all the tailoring we do will be done in-house. This way we get a overview over the whole process and we will be able to overlook it and see what works and what does not to be able to make changes and develop our working process and expand. In long term we possibly would like our tailoring to be outsourced as well but then we have to get a lot of bigger volumes and sales. Our company needs to be of a local medium proportion, after asking prices we have chosen an office in the center of Linkoping, over 90m2 warehouse 100m2. The rental price â‚ ¬ 1000 per month. Costs of production / initiation of the company: Machines and Computer products| Manufacturer| Units| Euros| Sewing Machine| | 2| 1000| Washing machine| | 1| 1000| Mac Pro| Apple| 1| 1200| Jet color laser multifunctional printer | Hp| 2| 750| Textil Studio 8| Macromedia| 1| 480| Quark Xpress 6. 1 Passport Diseno| Quark| 1| 2. 200| Norton Internet Security 2007 Antivirus | Symantec| 1| 60| | Total| 6. 990| Furniture Product| manufacturer| Units| Euros| Computer table ERISTER| IKEA| 4| 520| Chair STEFANO| IKEA| 4| 320| shelf FJUS| IKEA| 4| 400| Chairs| IKEA| 4| 80| filings| IKEA| 4| 180| Ceiling fluorescent bars| IKEA| 6| 180| | Total| 1. 680| Total computer equipment and furniture company| Computer equipment| 6. 990| Furniture company| 1. 680| | Total| 8. 670| Telephone rental and adsl| Local callsADSL Internet 10MG | 40Per month| Production process of our company First Phase In the first instance, we take care of developing the product design, according to the specifications and style that the customer provided to us. We need the measurements of the client to make the program design Textile Studio 8. Second Phase Then perform the design by computer program, the design is sent to our textile machinery in the warehouse where the design is recreated in the pants, is embroidered, sewn and glued, additional accessories or tweaks that you must do the product. Third Phase. In third phase, the products pass an exhaustive examination of tissue and finishes, in order to verify that the product is done with the selected design and has no damage. Distribution Our field is nationwide, with an eye to expanding our international infrastructure over the medium term. As our company turnover grow fence on the market performance will be broader. The distribution is provided by our company is an outsourced process by which we have a freight agreement with the company MRW light which provides an optimum distribution at a reasonable price, short and medium term by increasing our relationships grow if our trade with other countries. The cost of distribution affects the final price, so that the customer pays, revenue is recorded in the product itself. Marketing (advertising) In the field of marketing, the company will open a website with a catalog of examples, price list, contact, and an application through which you can perform orders. We have thought hiring advertising space in newspapers to national newspapers, the expenses are high, we will follow up weekly to see the number of people responding to advertising, if it is positive we will find these services. Also we will do advertising in social networks, starting a group of our company, our website advertising, adding to people that this profile for potential buyers to our profile social. So as included in online media websites such as www. undoanuncio. com. Regarding marketing we will also try to use SEO(Search engine optimization) as much as possible to get more hits when our possible customer base browse the web and search for companies that does custom made clothes. Implementation Plan We need to contact Diesel / a Wholesale to be able to secure our purchases of the Jeans. We need to establish a workplace where we change the Jeans into the customer’s wishes. Since our main sales channel will be via the internet we need to establish a homepage with the possibility to tailor your jeans and also a web store on the homepage so our customers can buy the jeans they want. We have to get some it-system that will be able to trace our orders and the specific changes the customer wants so we can make them and then ship them out to our customer. Activity| COMPLETED OR UNDERTAKEN in RELEVANT Quarter OF 2011-12| Development| | Finding investor interested in investing in the business. | 2011 – Q1| Attaining the site for thebusiness and making any needed physical developments| 2011Q1- Q2| Proof-of-concept development. Need to develop a prototype for the investors to see. | 2011Q1- Q4| Marketing| | Choose our target market, the group of customers we want to target| 2011 – Q3| Plan how to reach and address your customers, with specific measures coveringproduct design, pricing, distribution and communication| 2011 Q3 – Q4| Promote the service to potential investors and buyers. | 2011 – Q42012 – Q2| Management| | Recruit personal for the development of the service. | 2011Q1- Q4| Training of personnel| 2011Q1 – Q3| Forming a team| 2011 – Q32012 – Q2| Financial plan First of all our initial cost for our company is the cost for starting it up and register it as a incorporated company and for that cost we calculate 7  000 euro. Next up is our warehouse and office with its equipment needed. For the first month we need the capital for investing in our equipment that we estimate to 8  700 euro. After that we will have cost for our rent and staff, also for our purchases and a onetime fee to our web developer and a cost for every time we need to update our website. We estimate that the web developers onetime charge would be about 10  000 euro. Our rent will be 1  000 euro with a down payment for 3 months. Also we have a OTC for the officer and warehouse for 500 euro. That would mean that our total initial cost would be 29  200 â‚ ¬ and we count with a big miscalculation so we would say 30  000 â‚ ¬ as initial cost. Our monthly cost will be: Rent : 1000 â‚ ¬Telecome: 40 â‚ ¬Salary: 3000â‚ ¬ for 1. 5 fulltime employee Utilities: 500 â‚ ¬Distribution: 500 â‚ ¬Raw Material: 50â‚ ¬/jeans +5-15â‚ ¬depending on what customer choos to add to the jeans Promotion : 2000 â‚ ¬Other expenses: 400 â‚ ¬ That would be a total of 7  500 â‚ ¬ in monthly expenses but also a additional part depending on how many jeans we manufacture Sales forecast: We think that we can start with selling 75 pair of jeans the first month, meaning 2,5 jeans per day. And then we count with an increase of 10 % per month. Our price range on the jeans will be 120 – 200 â‚ ¬ and we have counted with an average price on 140 â‚ ¬ per pair of jeans We count with an increase in sales as soon as our website is up and running and getting some regular visitors and that they spread the word. Also it will take some time for our promotion and marketing to get effective What we would like to offer our investors are 20% of the shares in our company for the price of 15  000 â‚ ¬, the rest we would make up as a loan from the bank with a low mortgage and try to pay only the interest. Bibliography Melkersson, Erik (01-04-2011). Skraddarsydd e-handel pa frammarsch, www. hd. se. Avaible at: http://hd. se/ekonomi/2011/04/02/skraddarsydd-e-handel-pa/ [13-10-2011] Willebrand, Peter (16-08-2007). Jeansjattarna haller greppet om svenskarna, www. resume. se. Avaible at: http://www. resume. se/nyheter/2007/08/16/jeansjattarna-haller-grepp/index. xml [10-10-2011] Habit. se (17-12-2009). Jeansmarknaden tappar fart, Habit. se. Avaible at: http://www. habit. se/iuware. aspx? pageid=1780&ssoid=112504[12-10-2011] Pavarini, Maria (07-05-2010). DIESEL NAMES NEW CEO, RESTRUCTURES ONLY THE BRAVE, www. sportswearnet. com. 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